Council seeks Banksy's views over mural set to be unveiled at Bristol Museum

BRISTOL City Council is seeking Banksy's intentions over his latest artwork placed outside a struggling boys' club, the Bristol Post understands.

The mural was stencilled outside the gates of Broad Plain & Riverside Youth Project at the weekend but was taken down by the club hours after its location was revealed.

Manager Dennis Stinchcombe MBE planned to auction the artwork and claimed to have received offers above £1 million. He insists that Banksy left the mural as a "gift" to his club which has been struggling financially after seeing council grants dry up.

But police took away the artwork from the club last night and stored it in an undisclosed location ready to be delivered to the Bristol Museum this morning.

8 comments

You're missing a vital point there Blunttruth, he GAVE it to the Cube Cinema, he didn't spray it on the wall next door hoping they'd think it was for them. If this was a genuine gift by the artist he would have simply had someone give it to them as he's done with the both the Cube and a charity shop in NY, he wouldn't have painted it on someone else's property. Also there is nothing elitist about it being moved to the city's public museum and art gallery that is free to enter for everybody and doesn't require a mandatory donation to view it. Banksy didn't screw anything to the door, the plyboard was already there as you can plainly see by using Google Streetview or following the links i posted previously.

As you can see from the link Banksy gave art to the Cube Cinema to save it and this is no different!
http://tinyurl.com/ngcnapl
So the mayor "steals" a piece of artwork screwed to a wall which could help the kids of BS4 stay off the streets and develop into the best of Bristol…. And he moves it to Clifton! How elitist is that! Next he will be stealing the parking spaces outside people's homes and selling the right to collect revenue from them to a faceless corporation…. Had Banksy wanted the art to stay on a wall he would have painted it on a wall and not screwed it to a door! This is no different to his recent donation to the not for profit Cube Cinema…. Come on Mr Ferguson give the kids their art back and let them rais money and profile for the volunteers that make Bristol a great city to live in…..
http://tinyurl.com/o958haj

"held in by 2 screws"
You sure about that? You can clearly see at least 6 screws in this pic...
http://tinyurl.com/mayzz9e
This one shows several more screws at the top...
http://tinyurl.com/oeermhc
And this one shows that for a piece of board held on with "only 2 screws it took a little bit more than a Philips screwdriver to get it off...
http://tinyurl.com/m366v2m
And if none of that is good enough the final bit of proof that this wasn't a piece loosely HUNG by Banksy as a gift is this...
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/t1.0-9/10262207_10154029906510527_6482752729938562308_n.jpg
The board has been there for some time, it was presumably used by the council to board up an old unused doorway. If Banksy had intended this to be a gift then why didn't he either spray it on property belonging to the club, paint it on a piece of board and put it on the clubs premises or simply have it delivered to the club much like he did in New York with the Nazi painting that he gave back to the charity shop he bought it from as a gift?
http://tinyurl.com/pynx6wd

Normally Banksy's work is sprayed onto more permanent structures like walls. This was sprayed onto a piece of wood held in by 2 screws. right outside the club. The intention of Banksy seems clear to me. I don't like the idea of someone wealthy coming in and buying it and taking it out of Bristol. However, it would seem as though Banksy's intention was for this piece to help the club and lets be honest, we have quite a few pieces of Banksy's work around Bristol and I'm sure this wont be the last (maybe it might if the council decide to keep it?). If the piece can be sold for a million pounds then think about how much that can help the city. Personally I don't think its one of his better pieces of work anyway. Very envious of Cheltenham right now!

I truly hope this artwork is not a Banksy. All this squabbling would have been pointless except for the club manager who will recoup money from interviews which I trust he will invest in the club and fully account for indicating clearly payments in and how it will be spent ensuring full transparency and so nobody sneaks a few bob for themselves personally.